1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an alignment device. More particularly, this invention relates to a device useful for insuring level placement of a tile or row of tiles against a surface.
2. Background Information
In the construction of tile walls, floors and other surfaces, it is important to be able to correctly align tiles to insure their compliance with a predetermined pattern and their correct spacing from other tiles.
Prior to the present invention, the surface to which the tiles were to be placed was covered with an adhesive (the adhesive may be any polymer-type adhesive useful for holding ceramic tile, or may be a cement or mortar) and the rear face of the tile was placed in contact with the adhesive. The adhesive generally had the characteristics of being semifluid and slowly hardening, thereby allowing the tiles once placed thereagainst to be slightly adjusted to insure alignment with respect to adjacent tiles, and/or to a predetermined pattern, and the tiles were aligned by several different methods, such as by a level or leveling line, or a preinscribed pattern on the surface to be tiled, etc.
Because of the originally semifluid nature of the adhesive, and the need to use a previously aligned tile in the alignment of successive tiles, and because of the contour and orientation of the surfaces to be tiled, it has often been necessary to secure an aligned tile in place until the adhesive cures sufficiently to prevent further movement thereof.
The most common prior art device useful for holding tiles in place is a small piece of wood, such as a "toothpick" or the like. The tile is correctly aligned and then the toothpick or toothpicks are placed in between and adjacent tiles to hold them in place (and to support other tiles) while the adhesive cures. These toothpicks must be modified as they are used, either by taking them apart, bending them in half, stacking them on top of each other, etc., in order to fill the space between adjacent tiles and support them in such a manner that incidental forces cannot cause the tiles to move from their aligned position. This "toothpick" type of alignment device is very difficult and time-consuming to use, and does not consistently maintain the tile in its aligned position. Also, too large and heavy tiles such as marble slabs and the like cannot be aligned or supported with such small and relatively weak devices.
To improve the ability of the tile layer to correctly align, and to secure correctly aligned tiles in place, there is a need in the art for a device which cannot only quickly and easily force a tile into its correctly aligned position, but also thereafter hold the tile in a secure manner while the adhesive cures. There is also a need for such a device which can be easily removed from its location between adjacent tiles in such a manner that the tiles themselves are not dislodged or misaligned by the removal thereof. There is also a need to provide such devices with means to allow their removal by hand, thus avoiding the need of tools or other devices to be levered against the newly positioned tile in order to generate sufficient force for their removal. There is a further need to provide such a device which is of a size and strength to support and align even very large tiles such as marble slabs, etc.